Siege of Yodfat

The Siege of Yodfat was a 40 day-siege which occurred during the First Jewish-Roman War. The Roman legions under Vespasian besieged Yodfat for 40 days and 40 nights without let, and, after a ferocious battle, they slaughtered almost all of the city's inhabitants.

Background
In 66 AD, the Jewish Zealots incited an uprising against Roman rule in Judaea, establishing a provisional government in Jerusalem and annihilating a Roman army. Emperor Nero dispatched his trusted general Vespasian with two legions to crush the uprising, and his son Titus arrived with another legion. The three legions, augmented by reinforcements from local allies, fielded 60,000 men combined. Vespasian set about conquering the 19 fortified Jewish towns in the Galilee,  and the Jewish rebel leader Yosef Ben Matityahu (Josephus) established himself at Yodfat with 42,000 rebels and civilians.

Siege
In early June 67 AD, 1,000 Roman cavalrymen sealed off the town, paving the way for the rest of the Roman force to lay siege to the city. Vespasian prosecuted the siege with vigor, building a siege ramp and 160 engines, catapults, and ballistas. Josephus rationed the city's limited water supplies and launched several sorties, but he failed to break through the besieging Roman army. Vespasian was wounded, but this incited his men to work harder, and the siege ramp surpassed the walls on the 47th day. At dawn on 20 July, a band of Romans led by Titus himself stealthily scaled the walls, silently killed the watch, and opened the gates, and the Roman army rushed into the city. They massacred 40,000 Jews and enslaved 1,200, but Josephus survived and underwent a miraculous conversion before emerging as a great scholar and historian.